The Care Certificate for paid carers

Posted on 23/10/2017

The Care
Certificate is the current minimum standard for new care workers as part of
their induction and training. It is a set of standards for health and social care
workers to adhere to in their roles.

The aim of the certificate is to ensure that all workers in
the sector have the same basic induction, the same skills, the same knowledge
and the same understanding of what it takes to deliver high-quality health and
social care support.

Many agencies and care providers will ask new workers to
undertake the Care Certificate as part of their initial training. It is aimed
primarily at new workers to the industry, however, it is also good for those
who may want to refresh or update their knowledge and skills. It is also expected
of care workers joining the industry since April 2015. The Care Certificate is
made up of 15 standards, from ‘Understanding your role’ through to ‘Infection
prevention and control’.

One question that often crops up is how the Care Certificate
can be applied to individual paid carers, who are
employed directly by the service user or work in a self-employed capacity. There
is no legal requirement for a paid carer working for an individual service user
directly to have completed the Care Certificate. However, for paid carers
performing delegated healthcare tasks, the Care Certificate is considered ‘best
practice’ according to Skills for
Care.

A service user who is employing a paid carer may opt to provide
an induction that includes the Care Certificate, if the care worker hasn’t
already done it. It is the service user's responsibility, if they are the employer,
to ensure that the training and assessment reaches the required level. The assessment
must be carried out by someone who is considered ‘occupationally competent’ –
someone who has enough experience in the industry to determine whether the paid
carer being assessed has met the competency standards required. Who this person
can be varies. In some cases, the employer themselves may be able to carry out
the assessment if they are confident in doing so, or even another paid carer
who has been working in the sector longer and has enough care experience to be
able to assess another worker.

Another option is to ask for help from a local support organisation
or training provider. For those employers who are given a personal
budget, they can ask the supplier of the funding for help and relevant
contact information. Service users who pay for their own care and support, or
receive funding from their local authority may be able to apply to Skills for
Care to help pay for the costs of care-related training.

For those working in a self-employed capacity, where a paid
carer may be working with a number of different service users, it is up to them
to ensure that they take on appropriate training and qualifications, to ensure
that they are competent in their roles and understand what is expected of them
to deliver high-quality care and support to each and every client.